October 31, 2011
Apple Solar Farm to power their iCloud data center in North Carolina
by ruchiApple is rumored to make a huge green investment by building a solar farm to power their data center in southern Catawba County, North Carolina. A word on the street tells us that Apple is planning to clear as much as 171 acres of vacant land for the same. This is the first time Apple will be using solar energy to power its data centre for the first time.
The said data centre will be used for Apple’s new iCloud service and has previously been criticized for its reliance on cheap, coal and nuclear-generated power. We have therefore seen skeptics calling this solar plant as a part of a greenwashing campaign intended to silence critics from the environmental movement. Depending on the solar technology uses, the entire site has the potential to generate 25 to 35 megawatts of power. This isn’t the first time Apple has resorted to renewable sources of energy. One of their recent reports suggest that the company’s facilities in Cork, Ireland, Elk Grove, California and Austin, Texas are all fully powered by renewable energy. at the moment, they seem to be pretty secretive about their solar plans but we expect to hear more from the tech ninjas when the company applies for a building permit.
[IT World]